HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata men's basketball team was taken down by a hot-shooting Catholic team, 81-56, Tuesday evening inside Memorial Gymnasium for their first loss of the season.
The Cardinals opened the scoring with a three and followed with a mid-range jumper to push ahead early. Chase Husted's (DuBois, Pa. / DuBois Area HS) putback layup was the only Eagle bucket over the opening five minutes as Juniata trailed by six. Nate DaCanal Johnsonburg, Pa. / Elk County Catholic) scored on a floater in the paint, and Kyle Ruggery (Duncansville, PA / Bishop Guilfoyle HS) got himself to the foul line where he made both free throws. DaCanal took an Andrew Bithell (Saxton, Pa. / Tussey Mountain HS)handoff on the right-wing, drove to the rim, and laid it in off the glass to tie the score at 8-8. The Cardinals answered with a layup, John Kelly (Philadelphia, Pa. / Roman Catholic High School) found Ruggery for a jumper, but Catholic responded with another layup.
Catholic would tack on 14 more to make it a 16-0 run over the next four minutes, with Evan Eisenhart's (York, Pa. / Central York H.S.) pullup jumper breaking the cold spell momentarily for the Eagles. JC struggled to find another bucket for a few minutes before Kelly's jumper made it 31-14 with just under five minutes to go in the half.
Juniata started to find an offensive rhythm, as Filippo Baldo (Easton, Pa. / Notre Dame Green Pond H.S.)made a jumper, DaCanal drilled a three of a Ruggery pass, and Hall made a layup. Still, they couldn't get stops as catholic stretched their lead to as much as 20 at 41-21.
Cameron Keck (Waynesboro, Pa. / Waynesboro) converted a jumper while being fouled, and his free throw was the final point of the half as Juniata trailed, 43-26.
The visitors shot 53.3% from the field and 54.5% from three, making six from behind the arc.
The second half was a tighter affair as Catholic outscored Juniata by eight, 38-30, but the Eagles couldn't get the deficit any lower than 19 during the second half.
Juniata will host Drew, Friday at 7:00.
